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Topic: Super Mario 64 (Read 16129 times)

Super Mario 64's open for submissions!There's more Times charts than you might expect, given that Super Mario 64 levels generally don't have a timer. I'll let the Rules do the explaining here:

For all Times charts, you must input a code to make a timer display on the screen.

There are several different timer codes out there, but any timer code must adhere to the following rules:

When the level starts, the timer should start. (Some codes reset the timer to zero automatically as the level starts; others require you to reset it by pressing a button during the star select screen or the fade-to-black. Either type of timer is allowed.)

When you collect the Star (or grab the key/star that Bowser leaves), the timer should stop, showing your time for that level.

The timer may not reset or pause at any time during the level, except during certain messages such as the instructional message in the Tower of the Wing Cap. Note that some timers pause for a short time when you use a warp (such as the one between flower beds in Bob-Omb Battlefield) - avoid using this kind of timer if you use a warp during a level.

The timer must display tenths of seconds. Displaying hundredths or thousandths is okay, but you must submit your time in tenths; if you use a timer with hundredths or thousandths digits, simply ignore those extra digits to get your time in tenths.

Emulator - Project64 version 1.6 is required for consistency. The N64 GameShark code is required to use the timer.

All charts are available for submission now!

(The only stars that don't have charts are Bob-Omb Battlefield Star 2, Tiny-Huge Island Star 3, and the Princess's Secret Slide in under 21 seconds. The reason is that the timer code and the level's race timer interact poorly, making it impossible to time these stars from start to finish.)

There's quite a few very talented Super Mario 64 speedrunners on YouTube, and many of them use the timer hack for individual-star speedruns and challenges. Hopefully these charts can be a useful way to collect everyone's best times for each level. For those unfamiliar with the setup required to use the timer hack, we'll do our best to get more informational links.

If you don't have a timer hack, you can try your hand at Coins and Races. But don't forget about the coin chart rule (if you don't know what it means, then you're probably fine):

Tricks that can be used to spawn infinite coins are not allowed.Thanks to Devin for the game information, as well as the suggestion to add the game. (And thanks to Gerbil for tech support.)

Update: charts issues have been resolved!Thanks to Gerbil for the help again. For the new Koopa the Quick / Secret Slide charts, see the Races category. These Races charts do not require timer codes, so those who play on console without access to codes can compete. (Also, the "Princess's Secret Slide - Block" star time is still there under Times (Sub Courses); that one still uses a timer code, to time from the start of the level to the star.)

I have a suggestion for the Bowser Charts. Why don't you make the main part of the course one time stat available for submission, and Bowser a Boss stat(for all three of Bowser's levels, of course)? Since the timer gets reset, it makes sense, I think.

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Yeah... I used to be a dreamer like you, but then a took a nightmare... TO THE SUBCONSCIOUS MIND! ...obligatory bad joke... Check

While speedrunning a few stars, I realized that when you play “Footrace with Koopa the Quick” (Bob-omb Battlefield, star 2) and you activate the timer from starting the race, the star timer is replaced by the race timer. After you finish the race, the race timer stops but the star timer does not appear again. I assume the same problem occurs in “Rematch with Koopa the Quick” (Tiny-Huge Island, star 3) and the two “Princess’ Secret Slide” charts. Unless there is an updated code that fixes this problem, I think the best thing to do is to move these charts to a new group called “Races”, and just use the time from race timers (with just one “Princess’ Secret Slide” chart).

While speedrunning a few stars, I realized that when you play “Footrace with Koopa the Quick” (Bob-omb Battlefield, star 2) and you activate the timer from starting the race, the star timer is replaced by the race timer. After you finish the race, the race timer stops but the star timer does not appear again. I assume the same problem occurs in “Rematch with Koopa the Quick” (Tiny-Huge Island, star 3) and the two “Princess’ Secret Slide” charts. Unless there is an updated code that fixes this problem, I think the best thing to do is to move these charts to a new group called “Races”, and just use the time from race timers (with just one “Princess’ Secret Slide” chart).

I agree with this. Races would seem to be better than TA, seeing as what he said pretty much makes sense, and would allow me to compete in categories other than Coin Attack(which I despise to a certain degree) because I don't have a GS for my N64, and cannot run an emulator on my CPU. I'm curious as to how far this game will go, competition-wise(100 players in one year, maybe? A VERY popular game, but I think I overestimated it by too much)

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Yeah... I used to be a dreamer like you, but then a took a nightmare... TO THE SUBCONSCIOUS MIND! ...obligatory bad joke... Check

Okay... hrm. We'll have to see if we can reorganize the Koopa the Quick / Secret Slide charts, since I doubt we'll get a patch for the timer override problem soon.

It also seems that the Tenths time has a bug, judging from Devin's stats so far, which all end in .0 - we'll have to get that sorted too.

Gamepro: I wasn't clear about it in my post, but the problem I have with the Bowser (level) charts is that it's very hard to determine your "final time" when you enter the pipe, because you never actually see the timer stop. Here's an example. (Boss charts might work though.)

SonicandInuyasha: we're not going to add Mario Kart games, since they're covered very well by Mario Kart-specific sites already.

Okay, thanks for the clarification, yoshi. ^_^ I wouldn't know that, anyways >_> Well, I hope that they patch the code soon, or generate a new code that would cause it to stop as the transition goes on(if that's possible) I'd love to see that these charts see the light of day in their finalized forms, I love this game ^_^

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Yeah... I used to be a dreamer like you, but then a took a nightmare... TO THE SUBCONSCIOUS MIND! ...obligatory bad joke... Check

I recently played “Princess’s Secret Slide” with the timer cheat on, and to my surprise, the race timer actually does not appear when you cross the trigger to start it. Therefore, the star that you get from the block at the end of the slide is perfectly speedrunnable. However, the under 21 seconds star is not, since the race timer where you need to get under 21 seconds doesn’t appear (and getting under 21 seconds upon crossing the finish line with the star timer doesn’t work either, I tried). This means that the “The Princess`s Secret Slide - Block” chart can be kept (although it should be renamed to use an apostrophe (’), and not an accent sign :P), but the “The Princess`s Secret Slide - Under 21"0” chart needs to be removed. I personally still think it would be a good idea to have a “Princess’s Secret Slide” chart under the “Races” group, since a lot of people still like to compete in completing just the slide as fast as they can, and it would just be more complete if it’s included.

I also just tested out “Rematch with Koopa the Quick”, and the same problem occurs here as with the “Footrace with Koopa the Quick” star. While playing, I did find something else: the timer resets when you enter a pipe, just like on the bowser levels. This could potentially mean that these charts have to be removed, but perhaps rules can be made that prevent you from entering pipes during your run.

Although, now that I’m looking further, it seems that entering the cave (either from the side or the top) also resets the timer, and entering that cave is required for obtaining certain stars. Using a warp does not seem to reset the timer.

Due to all these problems, I do feel I should mention that I am using the NTSC code listed under the heading “Time how long it takes to get a star (JS)” on the page linked in this topic. The reason I didn’t use the one directly linked (under the heading “Time how long it takes to get a star V1.1 (JS)”), is because when I tried it, the timer seemed to be cumulative. This meant that the timer would stop when I collected the star, but if I tried the level again, the timer would continue from the place where it stopped when I collected the star, as opposed to starting from 0:00.0. It also seems that the timer runs in another place as well without the timer being shown, since when I start my first level after starting the game, the timer is already at 9 seconds instead of starting from 0 like it should. My guess is that the extra time comes from the star select screen, but I don’t know for sure (and I doubt it matters; the code doesn’t work either way).

Is anyone else having these problems, or is it just me? Perhaps it would be good if everyone were to check if they have the same problems with resetting or overridden timers as I have, and if they get different effects from the ones I described here, then I think they should tell us which code they’re using.

I don't think making another separate section for the "Koopa The Quick" and "Princess Secret Slide" stars would be necessary.

1. "Koopa The Quick" stars are timed by his own timer; timing starts when the race begins and ends as soon as you cross the invisible threshold around his flag that stops the timer, so just ignore everything else afterwards.

2. Don't use the timer code on the "Princess Secret Slide level".

As for the Bowser levels, instead of timing strictly in tenths we could time it like 27"0 - 27"9 = 27"0 that way it'll be much easier to time.

This timer automatically resets itself every time you enter the level. The only downside with this timer is, that it will stop working as soon as you enter a sub area part of a level, so just use the one that has been mentioned above. Another thing, on certain star missions that require you to go through some sort of warp, you'll have to add on some frames to get the actual time because the timer pauses upon warping. How much time do I need to tack on to my timer when warping? Approximately 0"3 tenths of a second; ignore the warp that makes Mario dissolve because it doesn't add too much to your time, since it only adds 0"06 and we won't be timing in hundreds of a second.

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"Even the fastest player is limited by the speed of his fingers, or his mind's ability to control them... But when speed is not a factor... When theory becomes reality... The game can be pushed to it's limits."

Devin, you're basically saying that those that don't have a GS are able to post their stats on said stars? Koopa the Quick and the Princess's Secret Slide? First, what would be for the normal star(under 21 seconds)? The timer stops at the exact same time. And also, [Edit: Read the topic a little more thoroughly. Nvm, and I put the word under instead of above -_-'] What about the 0 second Koopa the Quick glitches(although you can't finish the level, maybe that wouldn't count in the first place)?Edit: I know that I sound like an idiot, asking the question about Devin just said. It's better to be safe than sorry, so I always have to ask, to check and make sure that I read everything correctly

« Last Edit: July 22, 2011, 09:25:42 PM by Gamepro011 »

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Yeah... I used to be a dreamer like you, but then a took a nightmare... TO THE SUBCONSCIOUS MIND! ...obligatory bad joke... Check

For Koopa the Quick and the Secret Slide, I think they could still go in their respective Times categories, but maybe under a different Division or something, just to clarify that the rules are different. ("Bob-Omb Battlefield - Star 2" as the chart for the Koopa the Quick race might be slightly misleading.)

Correct. That's why you would use the first timer code, but remember to reset it at the star selection screen.

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"Even the fastest player is limited by the speed of his fingers, or his mind's ability to control them... But when speed is not a factor... When theory becomes reality... The game can be pushed to it's limits."

Manually resettable timer. Press L to reset the timer. Normally you do this at the star select screen, or during the fadeout before entering a Bowser level, etc. You don't have to be precise at all with the timing of pressing L. Be careful not to press L during the level, though, since you can actually reset the timer during the level (and that would make your time ineligible for submission).

Auto-resets when a level is entered.

Stops when you touch a star or when you touch the key after a Bowser fight.

Same.

Doesn't autoreset when you enter a Bowser fight, so this timer works for tracking an entire Bowser level, from entering the level to finishing the boss.

Autoresets when you enter a Bowser fight. This timer might work for timing the Bowser level only (minus the Bowser fight), but it's hard to determine your exact time since you don't see the timer stop as you enter the pipe to Bowser.

Keeps running when you enter a sub-area like Jolly Roger Bay's sunken ship or the slide area in Cool, Cool Mountain.

The timer actually stops when you enter a sub-area. At least in the sunken ship it stops, and in Cool, Cool Mountain's slide it actually seems to reset and stop. This timer won't work for timing these levels.

Doesn't reset in the Princess's Secret Slide, but using the timer code, the under-21"0 star won't appear. The "block" category can be timed accurately though.

Same.

In Koopa the Quick levels, the timer resets upon talking to Koopa the Quick. So only the race time will be trackable in these levels.

Same.

There may be other codes to look at, but... tl;dr: as long as the player uses a code that starts at the start, ends at the end, and doesn't do anything weird in between, then it's usable. Otherwise, it's not.

We need a fairly static page that lists the actual addresses/values for codes that are available for use. Perhaps I'll just edit them into the first post here when everything's settled, and then put a link to that post in the Rules page.

Oh, and I almost forgot - I'll put in the rules that a tenths or hundredths timer can be used, and that using hundredths means you'll just truncate the last digit. I don't know what the tenths codes are, but they have been used, here for example.

Then, there's determining what to fix in the current charts. I suppose the only ones that really can't be timed so far are: Princess's Secret Slide under 21"0, and both Koopa the Quick stars (only the race itself can be timed). For Bowser levels, I vote to time the level + boss fight together using the non-autoreset timer code, because it's much easier to see your time that way. Levels with sub-areas can be timed using the non-autoreset timer code, as well.

I'm very happy that this has finally been done, SM64 is too cool to not being part of this community.

I think that the idea of timing the Bowser levels using the non auto-reset timer, thus ending the run at the moment you get the key should work well, this way at least people wouldn't have to record the run to look for their final time, the other timer code(the one that auto-reset) could be used too, but for timing only the fight.

I don't know what you guys think, but Wiggler(the centipede boss of Tiny-Huge Island) could have an entry at the bosses chart(if one is created), since at the time you enter it's area, the timer will reset(if it's the one that auto-resets).

About the Princess's Secret Slide, it would be fine if the box star could be timed with the codes and the under 21"0 don't, it'll fall in the same category of the "Koopa the Quick" stars, and using the code for timing the box star will also be good, because this way you won't have to bother about the "Under 21"0" star animation to start and making you make a mistake(this has happened to me many times xD).

Well, that's all I can think of saying for now, thank you very much Devin for taking this idea ahead and Yoshifan/Gerbil/Anyone else I may be missing for making this happen here =D

Right, so I modified the rules about the timer codes. I don't know about every single timer code that SM64 speedrunners use, but I laid out rules that any timer should follow to be eligible for use in competition. (Of course, a timer can be eligible in some levels and not others - for a given level, you just use a timer that works for that level.)

I'll see about changing the charts next. Here's what I'm thinking for now:

I'm thinking of making a separate "Races" category for Koopa the Quick and the Slide, after all. This will offer some times competition for those who only play on console and don't own a GameShark or modded Wii.

Then, for the "Times (Main Courses)" category, I'm looking to "hide" the Koopa the Quick and Slide under 21"0 charts. This means that the charts won't be completely deleted, but you won't be able to submit to them and they won't affect the overall rankings calculations. (I believe this has been done before at The Sonic Center, for the Sky Chase / Tails charts in SA(DX).)

(1) What should the rules be for the Koopa the Quick races? I know the Bob-Omb Battlefield race had a trick involving the Wing Cap to finish with an arbitrarily low time (down to 0.0 seconds), and I'm not sure if the Tiny-Huge Island race had anything weird going on.

(2) Let me know if you guys want Boss charts. There's only a few possible Boss charts though - Wiggler and the 3 Bowser levels (I think these are the only bosses where you enter a new area as you encounter the boss).

Both Koopa races have the 0,0 glitch, the first using a Wing Cap as you said, and the other is using a Koopa shell. I think a good rule that would avoid any of these, is something like: In any of the "Koopa the Quick" stars, your dialogue with Koopa must start while you're in the area around him that triggers it.

I do want Boss charts, even if only for the 3 Bowser battles, everytime I see someone speedrunning, they always use the safe way of defeating him, it would be cool if someone can get close to what TASers can do =D

Yoshifan: I know, I was only joking about that. I'm not into running Mario Kart Wii. It's a fun game, I need to play it more since that I have not played the game a lot since I got Sonic 4 and Sonic Colors.

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I love to play Mario and Sonic games with a mix of Donkey Kong and Kirby games. Yes I'm a Nintendo nerd.

what about mario kart DD for times,and races its basically the wii one with less items and no bikes just put character selection when submitting stats cause youll have to say which kart or bike you used in both